https://prnt.sc/ootg2t
As you should know, Switch is one of the Scavengers in Deathgarden. As every scavenge has, she has 2 passive abilities, 2 vambrace powers, and 6 perks, all of which I will be going over in this guide, explaining how they work, and providing my thoughts, some ways to use them effectively, and the best perks to use in a match. I will also be sharing a lot of tips, tricks and strategies to improve your Switch (and sometimes general) gameplay.

Also, there is a lot of reading to this, I wish i didn't write so much, but there's a lot of information to be said, so sorry if you don't like to read a ton.

Revivalist- Revive with full health instead of 2/3 full
There's really not much to say about this ability. There are some situations where you do get revived near the hunter and they will start chasing you again, and starting that chase with 3 bars of hp instead of 2 is really nice, but obviously you have to get revived, and as of right now any perks that revolve around getting revived aren't the best due to revives not happening all that often due to the recycling mechanic.

Lighten Your Load- Delivering blood grants a 50% speed boost for 10 seconds. This abilities duration will refresh if you deliver another blood while it is already active.
This ability is an amazing tool that Switch has to use. There are many ways to use this effectively. Some of the ways to use it are:
1. Getting around the map faster
2. Using it to get distance on the killer either in the middle of a chase or if they find you delivering blood.
3. Using it when you know the hunter is coming to your objective, and using it to quickly run away and having a good chance of avoiding a chase all together.
4. Using it with Sudden Insight to greatly increase blood efficiency.

These are just some of the ways to use this perk, now I will describe some situations where you
can use this perk.

Obviously, getting a 50% speed boost for 10 seconds makes you faster, so it will help you get around the map quicker, whether it be to find a blood pile or help a downed ally, a speed boost is always a good thing.

Before I start explaining the second way, I want to share a very helpful mechanic that applies to Lighten Your Load or really any speed boost in the game. When you start running from being stationary while this perk is active, you always want to do a roll before you start running, because when you start moving from stationary, you don't instantly start moving faster. Your character has to accelerate before the speed boost really kicks in. However, if you do a roll, once you come out of the roll, you are automatically at full speed so you can completely avoid the acceleration time. Also, another good habit to get into when playing Switch, is that when you have the speed boost active, you want to avoid using your roll as much as possible, UNLESS you are actively dodging the hunter shooting bullets at you. However, if you are just getting around the map, it is best to not roll as it really doesn't make you go any faster due to the speed boost, BUT if you lose your momentum do a roll to instantly gain full momentum again.

Now, on to that second way to use this ability, now that you know that important mechanic. If you are in the middle of a chase, and you think you have enough distance, you can deliver blood while in a chase to net yourself a really good chance of escaping due to the speed boost after delivering, however you must be careful while doing this cause if the hunter contests the point while you are trying to do this, you will be in a very bad position, so it's best to use your own judgment when doing this to see if its a good idea. Also, when you gain the speed boost DO NOT run in a straight line if the hunter is actively shooting at you. What you want to do is strafe left and right without killing your momentum, this will make it much harder for the hunter to hit you while also gaining distance. (If they don't use supercharge) Now, if you're delivering blood and you manage to get into a chase, you already have the upper hand due to you having a 10 second 50% speed boost. Once the hunter gets close to the point, if you haven't left already, (and you're now in a chase) a good habit to get into is rolling off the point (using the mechanic so you are now at max acceleration) and trying to gain as much distance as possible while strafing and breaking line of sight when possible. So pretty much this is just starting a normal chase with you being 50% faster.

The 3rd and probably better way to use this passive is to just avoid chases entirely. If you're on a blood point and you hear the hunter use supercharge and you're confident they're going to check your point, do a roll and start moving away from the point, because if you go early enough, you can avoid chases a good portion of the time. The speed boost allows you to quickly get a lot of distance and if you do it properly you can avoid a lot of chases and have the hunter completely wasting the time checking the point, because by the time they're at the point, you're already long gone.

Now, this ability has a very good synergy with the perk Sudden Insight which I will go over later, but basically when you deliver blood anything within a large radius (if the perk is leveled decently) is revealed to you. Lighten Your Load also is applied when you deliver blood. A very efficient way to do blood (that's not playing Dash...) is to deliver blood, and while that's happening scouting the map for blood pile locations. Once you finish your last blood, do a roll and start moving towards your next blood pile. If done effectively you can pretty much have 10 blood easily with 15-20 seconds of giving blood, allowing you to be very efficient at doing the objective as a scavenger.

Finally for this ability, I will be sharing another small mechanic that can used to boost your Switch game play. If you know that time is going to elapse and you have at least 1 blood left, you can chill near an objective for the last few seconds, then when the clock hits about 3-4 seconds, you want to deliver that blood. This gives you a nice little speed boost to get to those escape doors quicker. This can also be applied if you know the hunter is going to dominate, when you know the execution animation is about to be finished, drop a blood on a point to get a speed boost to get to an exit faster.

So lets talk about Clones. Basically how clones work is like any other vambrace power where you shoot your special arrow and it creates a clone of yourself in an area. Thanks to recent updates, clones now use your cosmetics and can actually clone other players now if you hit them in the area of effect that it has. However, as of right now, I would highly recommend that you DO NOT use clones. (Unless you need to level them for prestige.) They are pretty much useless against any experienced hunter, and smokes will be a better choice 9/10 times in a match. However, they do have their uses, and when they do work they can be quite fun to use.

So obviously, clones are great to use verse newer hunters, as they tend to not understand how the
mechanics work and when they see a clone they'll probably start laying into it with bullets only to realize it just disappeared. (Bonus points if they use shock on it.) However, once you start playing against more experienced players, you have to start being a lot smarter with using your clones as they won't fall for it nearly as much if at all. If I wasn't trying going in-depth on everything that Switch does, I would tell you to just never use them and always use smokes unless you absolutely want to prestige and you need to use clones in order to do that.

One mechanic of clones is that if a clone walks into or is spawned into a drone, or is used in the end game where everything gets revealed the clones also will get revealed. This can be used to throw off the hunter, especially if you use them before the reveal wave hits you and the clones walk into them, if you shoot them towards where the exit is, it can be rather convincing for the hunter that a player is trying to go there, however clones do move very predictably, so you have to be smart when doing it. Honestly I don't use clones much, but when I do use them a good way I like to do it in the end game is before I get revealed, shoot a couple of clones towards the exit, maybe grab a power core crate if its nearby, then when the gates are about to open, shoot all your clones right next to each other, having them move towards the exit, while you also walk inside that pack towards the exit. If done right, you can be very convincing and worst case the hunter has a 1/4 chance of shooting you first. You can also shoot clones into a drone to potentially sway a hunter into going for it, as it is a revealed target and you might be able to waste some time.

Of course these mechanics only work around when you and the clones can be revealed. Let's talk about some other ways to use these clones. Obviously the power of clones is to be used as a mind game. And unfortunately, they don't really do a good job of it against better players. However, simple strategies such as breaking line of sight and dropping a clone in the direction that you would go can work and in that time that the hunter is distracted, run the other way to try to break a chase. However, the sound clones make when they spawn is very noticeable, and they die in one hit. (devs if you're reading this pls make clones give hit markers and take more damage before they disappear and make the spawn sound wayyyy quieter)

Anyways, another way to use clones effectively is to drop a couple of clones, and pretend to be a clone. This strategy can work well against experienced players, but not as well verse new ones and VERY experienced players, as new ones will tend to shoot everything they see and very experienced players will know that you spawned some clones and can figure it out pretty fast. However, this can be rather effective as if you're against experienced players and you pretend to be a clone, the goal of this is to want the hunter to see you, but be convinced that you're a clone and shooting you is a waste of time, allowing you to potentially break a chase and leave the hunter bamboozled. This strategy is very risky however, because when you pretend to be a clone, you have to pretty much run in a straight line so if the hunter does start shooting you (whether intentionally or not) they'll know that they shot you because they actually do damage, and since you were moving in a straight line you are most likely going to take significant damage, at that point you want to do typical chase procedures and try not to get downed.

In conclusion, you pretty much want to be using smokes most of the time as smokes are so many times better than clones when used properly. Clones can be fun to use, but are severely outclassed by smokes. So if you want to play Switch efficiently, I highly recommend using smokes which I will be going over in the next section.

Smokes makes a smoke screen with a 12 meter radius that lasts up to 9.5 seconds at rank 10. (scales at .5 per level) These smoke screens can be an incredibly powerful tool when used properly. (and in my opinion one of the best powers when mastered)
So you shoot a smoke screen. Great. But if you just use them without thinking inside of a chase, you're not gonna accomplish much. I have ton of experience with these smokes and I will be sharing my best ways to use them effectively.

TWO REALLY IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT SMOKES
1. You are not deafening the hunter. They might not be able to see you at times, but they sure can hear you. Also if you are both inside a smoke and close enough. the hunter will be able to see you. You are not invisible when inside of a smoke.
2. When the hunter hits you, they get a health bar above your head. Even if you're in a smoke, this health bar will be visible to the hunter and even if they can't see you, they can see your health bar. Be VERY aware of this if you're inside a smoke and the hunter lands a bullet on you.

A very important mechanic to understand is that when you are revealed if you drop a smoke and stand inside of it, you will not be revealed until it ends or you leave the smoke screen. Visually from the user's point of view, unless you are standing in the very middle of the smoke screen you will still be highlighted in red, but as long as you are in the smoke screen, your aura will be hidden even if you are still highlighted red. Very odd visual bug and I hope this gets patched soon to make it less confusing for players. This mechanic can be a life saver in the middle of a chase, especially in the end game reveal, or if you pick up a hacked crate. Being revealed during a chase is a very big advantage for the hunter, but if you play around your smokes well, you can either stall for a hack to wear off, or wait out the timer for the exits to open in the end game without being revealed. This clip is an example of how one can use smokes to hide their aura, especially when picking up crates to it's full advantage.


An obvious main use of smokes is to block line of sight. The value of using smokes this way very much depends on the way the smoke is used. What you want to avoid doing, is dropping a smoke and just running away from it, easily allowing the hunter just to either, go around the smoke, or supercharge over it and get right back on you and now you have one less smoke. However sometimes you do need to do these things. For example, if you got caught in the middle of the swamp and you're in a chase you probably don't want to eat half your health or even more to save a smoke. Sometimes its best to drop a smoke to block line of sight even if its for a short amount of time, because you have 3 of them. Another thing you want to avoid doing, is stacking your smokes. Basically don't just use multiple smokes in the same spot because it doesn't do anything except extend the duration. I'm not saying don't use smokes in a similar area, just try to maximize the use of one smoke the best you can. Just try not to stack them on top of each other, as if you run out of power in the middle of a chase you're in a bad situation. Honestly, the more you use smokes the better you'll get with them, as its very dependent on where you are on the map. The best advice other than learning how to use them at getting better at using smokes is to use them often, and focusing on improving on your mistakes and recognizing what you did wrong and right during a chase.

Another way to use smokes is to absolutely bamboozle the hunter. If done properly you can make a very believable act that you went one way but in reality you didn't. The best situation to do this is when the hunter knows where you are, you have a bit of distance on them, and a way to break line of sight. This strategy basically works by making the hunter think you're either in the smoke, or broke line of sight after the smoke, causing them to go that direction, but in reality you went a different direction. Depending on how this is done, you can very well bamboozle a hunter and break a chase very easily. The nice part about smokes is that they pretty much have an infinite skill ceiling so you can always get better with their use. As I said before, the best way to master smokes after the basics is to just keep using them.

Another way to improve smoke gameplay is if you drop a smoke and have a bit of distance, this is a good opportunity to recover your stamina without being shot at. When combined with the Evade Master perk, which I will explain later, you can drop a smoke, be at 0 stamina, and easily be at full stamina within 3-4 seconds without chancing the hunter shooting at you (if positioned well) In the first clip towards the end you can see a waited a little bit so I could be at full stamina if I needed it. (A little tip against hunter shock, if you get shocked you want to roll immediately as its pretty much the fastest way to break the shock and avoid as much follow-up on the stun as possible)

One last tip I'll give you to use smokes effectively and a general tip for scavenger is that don't be afraid to try to pick up crates in the middle of a chase if you have distance. (Especially with size matters- more on that later.) Grabbing a health crate or a power core crate in the middle of a chase is a very pick advantage cause it pretty much puts you back in a chase as if it just started and can waste a lot of the hunters time. This can be further improved by if the hunter is close enough, starting to pick up a crate, then dropping a smoke on top of the crate, then crouching behind it. This will make it incredibly hard for the hunter to hit you before you successfully acquire the crate, it can very well force a shock out of the hunter. Even if the shock lands, you can either re-queue the pick up animation (Unless its autocollect inquisitor. Don't even get me started on how many times I've had my crates yoinked from me in the middle of the chase.) or start juking again, as you're already in a smoke and the hunter just used their shock giving you a good chance to break line of sight and bamboozle the hunter for an escape. Also in the first clip, there's 2 good examples of how to do this if you want a reference to look at.

So in conclusion Smokes have the potential to be an incredibly power tool. They are pretty much infinitely better than clones when used effectively and can help you escape chases much more often and survive much more often. Just remember that you are not deafening the killer and you are not invisible in a smoke.

**Evade Master and Size Matters will have their own sections because I have a lot to say about those 2 individual perks.**

Treasure Hunter- After collecting blood, reveal objects up to 125 meters distance.

This perk can be really good, especially for newer players who don't quite understand how blood pile spawns work, however, I personally don't recommend using this perk as once you understand how blood pile spawns work (they don't spawn near points or right next to each other, -not fire in the sky that map doesn't count.) the value of this perk drops significantly. It really doesn't help you much in a chase, but it can help you collect blood faster by showing you pretty much where the next blood pile is after collecting blood. However, the big issue with this perk is once you understand the spawns of blood piles, the value drops significantly. Very good for newer players however.

Herd Mentality- When within 15 meters of another scavenger, gain increased stamina regeneration. (Up to 65%) This perk does not give other players this bonus,(unless it was changed recently) however I think it should as it would make this perk much better.

This perk is pretty much just a worse Evade Master. The fact that it relies on being nearby another player makes it not nearly as useful as it could be, unless you are playing in a stack of friends that are always together this perk really isn't worth running. If it gave other players the same bonus, I could see it being viable, but I wouldn't recommend running this perk. Even with Evade Master and being near another scavenger with this perk, it still isn't worth it as the time it takes off is minimal.

Toil Together When within 15 meters of another scavenger gain up to a 55% bonus speed in collecting blood. This perk does apply to other players so you don't have to be the one picking it up, if someone else is they get the bonus speed as well.

This perk is nice and can be viable if you're in a group of friends that know you have it, but it only applies when other players are around you and it only increases the collecting speed on blood. Like it's really nice to have, but it really doesn't change the pace of the game much. Like yeah you collect blood faster when near other players but that's about it. If they made it so you had this effect on yourself permanently for the game, I could see it being more viable, but it really doesn't change the course of the game much.

Sudden Insight After delivering blood you gain vision of objects up to 125 meters. (This refreshes if you deliver more blood, similar to how lighten your load works.)

This perk is a good perk and I would recommend running it if Size Matters isn't your play style.
This perk has really good synergy with Switch's passive Lighten Your Load (Which I explained in that section, more on this synergy there.) This perk basically lights up everything around you after delivering blood and can help you make the best decisions on where to go after delivering blood.

Evade Master This perk will have it's individual section .

Size Matters This perk will also have it's individual section.

Evade Master- Gain up to a 50% permanent stamina regeneration bonus.

This perk sounds very basic, but having 50% stamina regen for the entire match at rank 10 opens up a lot of doors on how you can play the game.
Simple case in point- If you want to play Switch I absolutely recommend getting this perk as soon as possible, and leveling it up first.
Now, what can you do with this stamina regeneration? Well, first lets compare the difference of stamina regeneration without and with Evade Master.
Without Evade Master tier 10, it takes about 7 seconds to go from 0 stamina to full. But with Evade Master it only takes 3.5 seconds to go from 0 to full. Basically when you're in a chase you want to be using your rolls to gain distance and dodge hunter bullets. Having no stamina is a very bad thing when getting shot at, as unless you have a movement speed boost, strafing isn't very effective. Being able to quickly recover stamina during a chase gives you more opportunities to dodge bullets, break line of sight, and gain more distance.

There's not much else to say about this perk other than this perk is amazing and a must have in any Switch build.

Size Matters- After delivering blood, for up to 37 seconds gain an additional 4 meters of interaction range.
The range you gain is pretty much equal to the max distance that a scavenger will share resources when someone else acquires blood or picks up a crate to put it in perspective. But the more you use it, the more you'll get a feel for the range of this. (It's pretty long)

Quick little mechanic for Size Matters to improve your gameplay- As long as you start the pickup time of an object, UNLESS you get shocked, run out of range, attach to a wall, or if the hunter picks up the crate first (usually autocollect at that point) you will always finish the collection. It doesn't matter if you go behind a wall or break line of sight with the link, as long as you stay within range and nothing that I put above happens it will always stay connected until it's finished, even if the perk runs out during the collection time. The only exception to this rule is if you're picking up blood and the perk runs out you'll have to move closer to pick up more blood. (But it will pick up the last blood until the perk runs out, same like the other interactions.) So you can roll, jump, move around as long as you don't do one of the things I put above the pick up will not break.

This perk's effectiveness is pretty much solely reliant on how you want to play the game. I tend to play a very objectively based play style which results in me getting in chases often, so I tend to use this perk very frequently. This perk makes collecting crates in a chase MUCH easier, as you don't have to be nearly as close, and can you can mostly move freely, so you can start picking up a health or power core crate while also rolling around and dodging damage, making your chances of survival much higher.

Overall, this perk is amazing if you have an objectively based play style, which I think Switch fits that play style very well, as you can do objectively fast and efficiently, and increase your odds of surviving chases after doing the objective, or just chases in general. Trust me, the more you use this perk the more you'll come to love it.

Before the start of the match, my ideal load out will be Smoke Screen for my vambrace power, and Evade Master and Size Matters for my perks.

At the start of the match you want to do standard procedures obviously looking to get ammo and
power cores before the hunter spawns, and then once the hunter spawns the first thing you should be doing is looking for 10 blood and doing the objective. Pretty much as Switch you want to always be doing the objective whenever possible, don't be afraid to take chases as you have a good chance to survive them if you know how to play. Also don't be afraid to pick up hacked crates if you need to, as if you get revealed, drop a smoke at your feet and just chill until the effect is over. Another big thing that you should get into the habit of doing is if you ever see a teammate in a chase and you have line of sight, you almost always want to drop them a couple smoke screens, as the longer your team survives the better your chances of doing the objective and surviving longer. It's typically not worth it to go out of your way to go across the map to help, but if there's a chance always drop them smokes as you can typically find power core crates very easily.

If you make it to where the exits spawn, then if you have the opportunity, try the free speed boost strategy I put under lighten your load where you deliver blood right before the time runs out or the hunter dominates. But once the exits spawn in, you want to get as much distance to one as you possibly can before the reveal hits you. Once the reveal is about to hit you, drop a smoke BEFORE you are revealed, so the hunter's only way to know where you are is by checking the smokes. However only experienced hunters will typically check smokes because they know, so you can usually just chill until the exits open in a smoke. As long as you have a decently leveled smoke you only need 2 to run out the timer, which leaves you with an extra smoke. Another strategy you can do if you know you're against a decent hunter and you think they might check smokes because they know, you can drop a smoke in another location a bit away from you, then drop one at your feet so it causes the hunter to check both of them, so it increases your chances of surviving. This is basically just understanding who your hunter is and accessing their skill level to confuse them for a little bit. So pretty much by the time they find you the exits should be open or close to opening and worst case you have to dance for a couple of seconds, so you can typically survive.

This is the way I like to play Switch, feel free to try other ways, but this is the one I enjoy most and have the most success with.

I personally enjoy playing Switch the most, however I don't think she is the best scavenger in the game, especially now that Dash is out. However, when you understand how to play Switch effectively I think she is one of the most fun scavengers out there to play. The satisfaction of mind gaming a hunter with smokes and generally outplaying and bamboozling them is something I find that Switch excels at.

Feel free to leave feedback as this is the first guide I made by myself, and I will most likely update this in the future. I also apologize again for the excessive amount of writing, but I've put a lot of time into this Scavenger so I hope you guys can learn something from this.